


Old Triumphs

by saye0036



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Love Confessions, Motorcycles, Near Death Experiences, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 13:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5968378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saye0036/pseuds/saye0036
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bond a beach, and M on a motorcycle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [detectivecaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivecaz/gifts).



> For detectivecaz who wanted a story about M on a motorcycle.

The fist narrowly misses his face as he lands his own fist into the stomach of his attacker. Pushing back the discomfort from the blow the first attacker landed to his face, Bond attacks lightning fast.

Bond presses his advantage but previously unknown third attacker grabs him from behind. His arm crushes his windpipe. The sound of a machine cuts through the grunts and shouts of the fight. An old motorcycle engine, the sound echoes off the wall of the abandoned warehouse.

Bond flips his opponent over his back to the ground, crashing the heel of his shoe into the man's windpipe as an old Triumph roars closer to them. Distracting the two men with oddly blank nondescript faces. Bond elbows one of the men sent to waylay him from his mark. The mark that seems a hazy memory to Bond now. All he can think of is escape. This is all a distraction from his true goal.

The Triumph arrives, as the small obviously female driver flips Bond's attackers the bird and nods for him to get on. She flips up the tinted shield but the face and hair are mostly concealed by the black helmet. However, the eyes pierce him as if straight to his soul...he knows those eyes but how...

James doesn't delay, and jumps on behind her as she speeds off. He knows his rescuer, or at least he should. She's so very familiar but things are hazy since the blow to his head. The leather jacket cannot hide the curves this woman possesses and the smell of perfume hits him like a slap in the face.

Smell affects memory, and every cell in his body screams in acknowledgment. Bond's hit with the scent and proximity to the woman he would most like to see, M...his M, but she died.

She left him…

Why..

Didn't…

She…

Tell…

Him?

Why…

Did…

She...die?

Silva...knife...dead rat. He bloody well did that for her! All for her! Everything was for her! Now there is nothing left for him. He grips the mystery woman's waist tighter.

The last time his body felt this numb and this attuned to someone was at Skyfall. He held her as the cold water froze his body and her heart gradually slowed. He felt as though he would never be warm again.

James only feels alive now in the field and that includes behind this leather clad woman on an old Triumph. Could his M have ridden a bike like this? No...something is still off. None of this is right. It feels too strange.

She weaves in and out of the traffic here in France. The beach is in the distance and the sun is going down. She slows the bike and stops by the seawall. James climbs off the bike and is hit by a wave of dizziness. The heat of southern France does nothing to warm him...he's cold. Dead cold.

The cold is crawling up from the ground, up his feet up his legs to his torso. All the adrenaline from the action now finished, allows his muscles to become cold. His chest fills with an icy chill.

Bond has felt disjointed like this for ages now. His head barely in the game. He fights to stay alert and to speak with the short mystery woman who saved him. She seems to halt removing her helmet and looks about to get back on the bike.

Bond reaches out his hand to her arm. She turns towards him and suddenly the helmet is gone. The sun seems to blind him in it's decent. The silver white hair he believed was blonde on first glance throws him off balance.

She's talking to him but he he can hear no sounds. He's stepping backwards as sounds seem to cone in around him, with only the muffled thudding of his heartbeat making any sound. He feels himself falling backward as his ass hits the pavement and the woman blocks out the remaining rays of the setting sun. His body falls back and his head hits something hard.

Bond's vision blurs in and out as a cold grips him down to the bone. He's too tired...M's here but she has not spoken...does she not recognize him? Why did she save him when he couldn't save her?

Will he see her where he's going?

Black…Grey….Piercing white. Sound returns with a vengeance, as Bond's head feels incredible pain and sensitivity to light and sound.

A doctor shines a light in his eyes. Christ it hurts. He feels alive, how could he not with his head in a bloody vice. Pain equals life, it always has.

Eve's there, he closes his eyes again. The light hurts and the pain makes him groan. He feels a floating sensation again as drugs take him on another voyage.

Tanner's voice battles with Mallory's. Then Eve comes back to bring in two strange voices. A woman and a man.

"Hello, James." The woman sounds like M. "I don't know if you can hear me but thank you for...trying to save me….my mother."

I saved you M. You were on the beach and saved me on that motorcycle... and you looked damn hot doing it.

Mouth dry.

Trying to answer.

It sounds out in his head, but he cannot give voice to M's doppleganger. She sounds the same but does not smell the same. The hair is full of dark curls, not a silver pixie cut.

I loved you.

I really did.

Why did you leave me?

There wasn't time to tell you. Why is there never enough time?

                                                                                          ******

Weeks later:

Bond stands at the back of the funeral. His body now partially healed from the beating and hypothermia he suffered at Skyfall.

The strange dreams he had between life and death still linger. Her children Judi and Ryan are there and he speaks with them after the service. They thank him again for trying to save her. It leaves him feeling even more hollow.

Judi looks and sounds just like her. He wonders if she...no...no...it's too much. The grief is still too visceral. He would destroy her life just as he did her mother's. Finding solace in the daughter will only bring more tragedy.

The children knew nothing of her real life until the Prime Minister and Mallory tell them after her death. What a shock that must have been.

Judi might look the part, but nothing about her on the inside, is the iron of the woman he loved. She may sound the same in his ear as they made love but it won't be the same. He can only ever try to seduce a copy...the original is dead and it's all his fault.

Contemplating seducing M's daughter makes him smirk in a bitter and remorseful way. The look on her face if she found out...she would likely throw the china bulldog at his head. Her face flushed and her eyes flashing. Like her tossing that ashtray across Mitchell's flat. If there hadn't been others there…what would he have done. Would he finally have shored up the courage to do something about the deep seated desires he held for her for so long a time.

What...what would he have done...he had just come home from Siena...he was desperate to see that she was unharmed. Tanner reassured him that she was; but still. She almost died then; that damn metal pole barely managed to save her. Why didn't the damn stone wall of Skyfall protect her?

No; he was too much the coward in her presence. Her rejection would cut worse than anything...worse than his parents death. Bond killed Mitchell and he killed Silva, but nothing could save her from bleeding out. Kincade did his best but he didn't know she'd been hit either. The reality of wasted opportunities is all Bond's left with standing beside her grave.

Nothing left to do now but live a life of what ifs. Bond only has a few good years as a double 0 left. If he makes it without her guidance it will be a miracle.

To be continued...


	2. Death on a Beach

One Year Later:

Mallory has James trailing a low level scumbag. The big fish is hanging out in a luxury resort in Southern France, Nice to be exact. It's nice to pretend he's on vacation, spending a week here watching the man and his associates. But it's all just the job and it's all that keeps him going at this point.

James has been watching him for over a week now. There is something going this afternoon in a beach cabana. James gets his swim trunks on and take a towel and his bag to the beach. This is where it will all go down. His escape route is out the back of the large striped beach tent with an opening facing the sea and a small part in the rear.

Inside there are chairs a table and a bar set up for entertainment, of the villainous scum who've rented it for the day. There are two servers from the nearby hotel that go in and out stocking the area with food, ice and drinks for the meeting. The two low level men who've set this entire meeting up, are in casual swim attire on lounge chairs in front of the tent.

As Bond stands on the beach looking around, it suddenly strikes him like a punch to the chest.

His dream.

This is the same beach.

Bond looks back toward the seawall and sees some motorcycles parked. Bond forgets the mission completely and runs up to the parked bikes.

There it is...an old silver Triumph.

What the hell! How can this be?

That dream has not been far from his thoughts in the year since Skyfall.

His mobile rings...Q...reminding him of something.

"Yes...fine...yes...later." Bond dismisses the man impatiently, as he heads back to the beach and the hut to watch for his mark to arrive.

An hour later and Alfonso shows up with three other men. Bond opens his bag and readies his gun and silencer, hiding it in his hand by draping his towel over his right arm. He begins making his way through the sand towards the hut while looking distracted.

Bond approaches the hut looking calm and collected. He needs to kill all these men, take the briefcase all without alerting the sunbathing tourists. It's not yet the high season here but it's still very warm and there are tourists around lying on beach chairs provided by the hotels nearby.

Bond opens the fabric flap. "Hello I was wondering if you gentlemen know where I could find a toilet." Six faces look at him in shocked confusion, giving Bond enough time to get off a series of quick shots.

Screams sound out as men fall to the sand. The servants leave quickly through the back screaming for help. It all happens in a rush of adrenaline for Bond.

This is what it means to be alive.

Alfonso sees the servants escape through the back and follows with one of his men who open fires at Bond.

James darts back out the front of the tent and runs in pursuit. The two criminal thugs run down the beach towards some boats for hire. The hired gun turns to shoot at Bond. Bond returns the favour and manages to hit the running man in the shoulder.

The man continues running and shooting at Bond. His shoulder dripping blood down his arm. He trips over a sunbather who rolls to her back because of the disturbance.

The man gets up and turns to shoot Bond. Having no cover he's likely to take a hit so James dives for the sand beside the lounging woman under the partial cover of a beach umbrella.

A shot sounds and the man falls to the ground dead. A bullet to his head. Bond looks over at the woman beside him holding a Walther pistol with a silencer in her hand. The recognition is instantaneous, yet disjointed in his mind. He freezes and stares at the woman he saw die a year ago in his arms.

"007 do get up and at least finish the job before someone else trips over me or shoots me."

"M?" Bond's face is a contortion of emotions. He reaches out to touch her. Bond's actually terrified that he's near death and living that dream once again.

"I'll wait here...go! Get him now 007 before he makes that boat!"

James doesn't know what to do or say, but he climbs to his feet and races after Alfonso.

Alfonso almost makes the boat...almost.

James can only think of getting back to M so he stops running, carefully takes aim, calms his wildly beating heart and takes the shot.

Alfonso goes down.

Bond jogs the rest of the way to the boat, to make sure he's dead. He checks his pockets removing small keys, his mobile and whatever cash he can find. It makes it all look like a robbery. The contents of his pockets may be helpful for the investigation once Q goes over them.

Bond leaves the body and runs as fast as he can back to M's umbrella.

The other body is still there. However, M's towel and bag are gone and so is she.

"FUCK!" Did he hallucinated the entire thing?

Bond makes his way back to the hut. The police are just arriving up at the sea wall so he has to make this quick. He grabs his bag from the hut and takes a bag of cocaine, tossing in on one of the dead guards.

The briefcase is gone. Bloody hell!

Bond takes his things and leaves out the back as the Police approach the front of the tent. James walks calmly away from the hut to the stairs on the seawall. He makes his way up to the parking area and glances around for M.

That old Triumph is not where it was.

To be continued...


	3. Reunion

Bond looks around, desperate to find M again.

The silver Triumph suddenly appears and roars to meet him. M's now in jeans, boots and a black leather jacket just like his near death dream. Strapped to the back of the bike is the missing briefcase and her beach bag.

Bond smirks at her. "When did you learn how ride M?"

M tosses him a helmet and flips her middle finger up at him. Just like she did in the vivid dream he had of her saving him in that warehouse.

James would love to drive this old bike, but holding her close on the back, is the place he most wants to be at this moment. He climbs on as she guns the motor heading out of town into the hills.

Eventually she takes a side road and comes to a small cottage. She drives into the shed and turns the engine off.

They get off the bike remove their helmets. Bond grabs the bags off the back of the Triumph as he stares at her, yet saying nothing.

He can't get over it. She's lost weight, she looks younger and carefree. Away from the stress of the office, there is a smile on her lips as she waits for him to say something. Bond begins to blush of all things as he realizes that he is looking at her like a lost love. She is his lost love but she doesn't even realize it. Or does she?

Olivia tires of waiting for him to say anything, so she turns and heads into the house. Once in the small kitchen she removes her jacket as Bond tosses the bags on the table.

"The washroom is there for you to change. I will make some tea and maybe then you will find your voice. I will begin answering your multitude of questions once you clean up." M turns from him to get the kettle.

Bond rushes into the small toilet off the kitchen and quickly removes his bathing trunks and t-shirt for the jeans and jumper he has in the bottom of his bag. He uses the facilities quickly and cleans up a bit before facing her.

What is he going to say? He's so happy he could dance but he's also furious. How dare she fake her death!

M knocks on the door. "Are you alright Bond? I haven't scared the life out of you have I?" Bond can hear her laugh through the door and it stirs him...deeply.

He enters the kitchen to see her put the water into the kettle. She turns to him. "Bond? So quiet, is there something wrong? Other than coming face to face with the ghost of your old boss."

James makes his decision without speaking a word. He approaches her in a few strides and holds his hand out to her face. He cups her cheek as he stares at her in wonder. M smirks and begins to laugh again but he catches her completely off guard by kissing her so suddenly that he steals the breath from her laughter.

Bond wraps his arms around her as he pins her against the counter of her kitchen. This is no peck on the cheek...this is no hello I missed you M. This is all the passion he has ever felt for a woman in one searing kiss.

M collects herself enough to push him away. She stares at him panting to regain her breath as she moves away from him. She's incredibly shocked by what has just happened.

"007...what...it is...crazy...why?" M skirts the table to keep him across from her.

"Don't you think that, that should be my question to ask M? WHY in hell did you do it? How could you make me think I got you killed? Why in hell didn't you tell Kincade or me that you were hit!?"

M knew the anger would come out eventually but mixed with that passionate kiss this reacquaintance has become something beyond unexpected.

"James...it was my fault. And I did die...I was so cold that everything slowed down. Once in the warmth of the hospital the doctor found my slight pulse as the blood began to flow sluggishly from my wound again."

Bond begins to follow her around the table. M keeps retreating from him as if suddenly scared. "Why are you moving away? I won't hurt you."

"Well I...I don't know…why are you...what are you...why did you...kiss me like that Bond!" M stops in her tracks with an angry look on her face suddenly.

Now it's James' turn to smirk. "Why do you think I kissed you like that M?"

"Well...I...I'm sure...I don't know." M says flustered as her face turns crimson in embarrassment.

Bond has now moved back into her personal space. M looks way up at him as he turns his self assured gaze on her. Bond exudes confidence and his annoying ability to ooze charm, is flustering Olivia. She choses to stop and hold her steadfast position in her own kitchen.

"Don't you?" Bond's hand is on her shoulders making small circles on her arms. If he had come into her kitchen brandishing a gun at her, you could not have surprised her more.

"No...I...I have no bloody idea!"

"Come on M. You can do better than that. What do you deduce by my body language and that kiss?"

"I deduce that you have lost all your reason, and have a bloody cheek! That is what I deduce."

Bond pulls her against him in a sudden hug. "I missed you too M. So much you have no idea. I never got the chance to tell you...to tell you that I loved you. That I am, in love with you."

M relaxes in his grasp as she pats his back. "Oh dear boy. I did miss you too. You blamed yourself, but it was all my fault it happened to begin with."

Bond pushes her to arms length again to look at her. "I could have saved you if you had told me."

"It was easier to disappear and Mallory and the PM agreed."

"Mallory! You mean that bastard knew!"

"Yes, how else would I get my pension to live here."

"I don't care about that now...I will shoot him later. Right now I want to take you to bed."

"WHAT!"

"I told you M. I love you and I'm not leaving you again."

"And how the hell am I suddenly your conquest?"

"M you are not my conquest you are the love of my life. You conquered me long ago...M. Don't tell me you never thought about sleeping with me?"

"Of all the arrogant...annoying...disaster causing...arghh! I've firsthand knowledge of your missions 007. And I suppose I'm the damsel this time, and so now you must celebrate between the sheet! For your information Bond I saved you! And no, I do not expect sex for the help!"

"Calm down M. Sit; let's discuss this before you start to threaten me. Come let's have the tea."

Bond pulls out the chair beside his and begins to pour the tea, playing nice and calm. Olivia looks at him with some trepidation as she glares at him occasionally over the rim of her cup. Looking for any sign he is about to pounce on her and kiss her like that again. What is this game that he's playing?

"I will start with my dream...I dreamt you saved me on an old Triumph as I was dying from grief, and my injuries from Skyfall. I was in between worlds and you were saving me. Then I came crashing back to life. I wallowed for a long time. I even considered seducing your daughter just to have something of you."

"Bond! You bloody well...better not have…"

"I considered it, but a copy is not you. I wanted you. I've wanted you for years. I was ashamed to admit it for a long time. But my god M, you set my heart pounding whenever I was near you. Just like now."

"I don't know what to say...I never expected this…"

"No, I suppose not, but it's true and I want you to know that, that was the last connection to Silva I just took care of. You can come back and kick Mallory to the curb now."

"No...I'm too old for that now...for all of this." Olivia waves her hand at the air between the two of them.

"But not too old to ride around on a Triumph? Saving my ass on a beach in France, by shooting a man...come on M...you missed the thrill of the hunt. Besides how did you know I was here?"

"Mallory gives me updates and warned me you were in the area...they were getting too close."

"YOU! They were after you weren't they!"

"Yes they were, and that's why you were sent to take care of them. Yes, they were low level players but they got that information from somewhere. Hopefully, whatever is in that case can help Q find out if the trail is dead or not."

"You can't stay here any longer."

"No the movers come to pack the house tomorrow."

"Where M? Where are you going?"

"I cannot tell you that Bond."

"Like hell you can't! I am not leaving your side...I will resign...I will follow you to the ends of the earth if I have to."

"James, do be serious for a moment will you."

"I am serious M! I want you...badly. This is no romance story where I've been actively pursuing you for years. I couldn't, you were married. I really had no idea that I wanted to tear your clothes off on a conscious level, until you came to the islands after me...and…then..."

"ENOUGH! Bond, do be serious for once."

"That kiss wasn't enough proof for you?"

Bond grabs her hand and brings it to his lips. "I want you. If you don't feel the same way for me...I...I don't know what I'll do. I will stay with you as your bodyguard, until we can sort this out. Can you at least tell me if we're headed back to London?"

"Yes...for a bit. James you cannot put you life on hold, to wait for me to catch up to this startling revelation. Please go back to work and think about this for a moment. I am far too old for you and I will not be a plaything to your strange fantasy...for an older woman."

"M that is not what this is. I understand if you have never thought of me in that way...but really? Really? That does horrible things to my ego, if you've never thought of spanking my bare ass over my desk a few times."

"Bond!" Olivia starts to laugh at him, until tears come from her eyes. "I have had that fantasy, from time to time but I never imagined it was a kink of yours."

"What have you fantasized of concerning me M?"

"Oh you...stop...stop this and help me make dinner."

They begin to pull pasta and sauce out of the cupboards and M moves to cut mushrooms and onions. Bond finds a bottle of wine and opens it, pouring two glasses while they cook and make salad.

"So you've seriously never had a fantasy where I stared as the lover, M? Sorry, I keep calling you M...force of habit."

"Is it really that hard to believe Bond? "

"Yes...yes it is. I have it on very good authority that I am irresistibly handsome, and a very good lover. You really should try me out...a test run so to speak."

"Bond...sex and love are two different things. Perhaps, if and when you achieve an age beyond 21, where your sexual maturity currently lies, you will understand. You're all filled up on your own prowess and strings of meaningless women. And really? And now you turn that on me? Well, how could I possibly believe the sincerity of your professed love?"

"Teach me. You're the only one who can." Bond pulls her hand to his mouth to kiss. He looks at her with such longing that it almost breaks her heart.

Of course she's dreamed of him being her lover...she may be old but she's not dead. She refuses to give him the satisfaction of an admission. He will have to work for it...very hard.

Olivia has gone years without the physical love of a man, she's been celibate since Nigel died. There have been some limited flings offered by men and women in the hotels and pubs during her travels. They see her alone and eventually shore up enough bravery to ask. However, many of the men her age live in the fantasy that they can get a younger model. And depending on their pocketbook they can.

Waiting a while longer won't kill her, but it may drive Bond insane. Payback for all of his seductions she was forced to listen to, is beginning to sound good. What did Mallory say...she's sentimental about him...she always has been. But she never considered that he reciprocated the feelings, she'd carefully tried to hide from the world. Yes, he flirted; but she alway thought he was just trying to get a rise out of her...make her crack. She could tell he liked the way she fought back. This will be no different.

Bond sees that M's trying to work out in her stubborn head if he is sincere and if she should take a chance on him. He needs to prove this is real and he is more than willing to do that by any means necessary. Getting her to move in with him, would be first and foremost the most desired way to worm his way into her heart.

"The Triumph, where did you get it?"

"I've had that for a very long time 007 and you cannot drive it."

"But?"

"No. Nigel bought that for me ages ago, to commute more efficiently to work. I didn't always have a driver you know and he thought it was sexy."

"He's not wrong."

"He rarely was."

"Lucky man, your husband."

"Not really. I was the lucky one Bond. Who else would put up with a career driven wife, with little time to devote to family?"

"Still you were there sometime. In bed with him...by the fire relaxing...moments I can only dream about."

Olivia can see that he's trying desperately to get her to have sexualized thoughts about him. However, bringing up Nigel is not going to work for him.

"Bond I will have to take my time in all this...it's sudden. I will go with you to London and we will see how things progress from there."

Bond smirks at her, as he brings the salad to the table and they begin to eat while the pasta boils. "M it sounds like we are dating...could it be?"

M laughs. "I think we just might. However, I am rather old fashioned so there will be waiting involved. If I know you, that will be the hardest part."

"Oh...I like where this is going already M. You're thinking about it. And yes, there will be an extremely hard part of me when you're around."

M swats his arm. "Bond...really...do grow up!  How long do young people date now?"

"How long until what M? Sex, three dates. Moving in together, usually a year. Marriage, I would think 2-5 years of living together or earlier if there's a pregnancy."

"Three dates!"

"Yes M, and this counts as one." Bond holds up his finger dramatically.

"It only counts if I say it does 007."

"Stubborn woman! James you must call me James, if we are to date and eventually marry."

"And then I suppose you should call me Olivia, but I'm not too sure about this progression to marriage. I don't think I could manage you as a husband Bond."

Bond holds his arm across the table to shake her hand. "Pleased to meet you Olivia...Mansfield. I am looking forward to taking you out on our second date tomorrow. And then again after that...and the next day and the next day after that. Oh, and since your flat is gone you might as well stay, and park that Triumph in my garage. If marriage is off the table, then living in sin it will be."

Olivia begins to laugh, as they finish their salads and she dishes out the pasta, while Bond pours more wine.

"Your garage eh? Will it be well protected there?"

"Yes...very protected. It will look wonderful, right along side the DB5 I had restored. You know, the one that disappeared dramatically the same day as the woman I love."

"Really? You bought another one?"

"No. I had the original restored. I told you M, for me only the original old girl will do."

Olivia shakes her head, but cannot contain the smile she holds just for him. It makes her face glow and a youthfulness that she never lost, shines over him. His soul is no longer cold, when he basks in the warmth of her glow.

Bond smiles a genuine and happy smile, that she has not often seen grace his features in the past. Perhaps this is the new beginning she needs. It's insane but it's her future and he's the best possible future she can imagine.

"James...I'm still not letting you drive my motorcycle."

The end.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Regret Is Unprofessional](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12122712) by [JustAnotherUnderstudy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherUnderstudy/pseuds/JustAnotherUnderstudy)




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